5 May 2005News.scotsman.comAngus Howarth
Wind farms could have a devastating impact on Britain's wild birds, conservationists have warned.
Ducks and waders are among the species that could pay the ultimate price for green electricity.
A worldwide review of previous studies into the effect of wind farms on the overall number of local birds paints a grim picture.
It said: "Available evidence suggests that wind farms reduce the abundance of many bird species at the wind farm site."
Among the worst affected are waders and ducks around wind farms on estuaries and in shallow coastal waters, New Scientist reported.
"We are not saying we should stop building wind farms. Birds would suffer much more from climate change if we don't," said Andy Pullin of the Centre for Evidence-Based Conservation at Birmingham University.
"But the data shows we have to be much more careful about where we site them." He said wind farms built in deeper water further from the shore might prove better for birds.
The findings could be especially significant for the UK, which has the biggest offshore wind energy programme in the world. "If Britain builds as many wind farms as the government is talking about, it could use up all the offshore habitat for ducks and waders," warned the lead author, Dr Gavin Stewart.
The results will be unwelcome for the government, one of the sponsors of the review, which is heavily committed to wind power to meet the country's targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, and for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, which supports wind power.
"Compared with past assaults, such as pesticides, loss of hedgerows, illegal persecution of birds of prey and intensive agriculture, wind farms should be low down the scale of threats," said Mark Avery, the RSPB's director of conservation. "However, if we put them in all the wrong places then that picture would be very different."
